The present invention generally relates to fluid flow diverters, and more particularly to a rainwater diverter for gutter downspouts or the like.
Rainwater has been collected throughout the centuries for consumption, irrigation etc. With the advent of public water and sewage systems, rainwater collection has more recently been primarily for irrigation. This is especially true for home, lawn, and garden care where it is more convenient to provide irrigation using water from the guttering systems of a house rather than using the city water available through the plumbing system of a house. The use of rainwater for irrigation over that of city water also has an inherent cost advantage because many homeowners not only have to pay for the water they use, but also for the sewage associated with that water use.
Also, the collection of rainwater is conservational as it allows for better management and usage of other fresh water supplies. Because changing weather patterns and climatic shifts oftentimes lead to diminished fresh water supplies, especially in arid regions of the country, rainwater collection supplements other water conservation measures such as water rationing, etc.
Various schemes have therefore been created which make use of the water flowing through a gutter downspout. Examples of these schemes include devices which displace a portion of a gutter downspout, thereby providing rainwater diversion to a location other than the bottom of the downspout. One such device is described by Nilsson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,376. Another such device is described by Harms, U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,474. The Harms patent device is a diverter insertable in a gutter downspout, which does not alter the downspout water velocity. Rather, it only diverts water through the side of the device. The Nilsson device is a flexible device insertable in a gutter downspout. It can be flexed to one position wherein rainwater flows only down through the gutter downspout. When forced to another position, a collection pocket is formed to divert water from the gutter downspout.
The Harms patent device is limited primarily to water collection, in that the diverted water velocity is relatively uncontrolled. The harder the rainfall, the higher the diverted water velocity and the increased chance erosion rather than irrigation will occur. The Nilsson patent device assumes that rainwater flowing through the gutter downspout will follow the inner contour of the diverter to be collected and exhausted. As can be understood, however, rainwater with a high velocity flowing through the gutter downspout will tend not to follow the inner surface of the diverter when in the collecting position, and will instead be primarily exhausted through the gutter downspout. The Nilsson patent device is therefore relatively highly dependent on the velocity of the rainwater flowing through the gutter downspout. As a result, it is sensitive both to the height at which it is installed in the gutter downspout, and to the manner in which the water flows through the downspout, e.g. effects such as splashing or swirling.
In light of the shortcomings of these and other known devices, there continues to be a need for an improved diverter device to divert water at a desirable rate regardless of whether it is raining hard or rather only sprinkling. Such a desirable device would have the ability to divert all rainfall during a soft rain, yet only partially divert rainfall at a desirable rate during strong downpours. The applicant's invention addresses these needs.